* Posts by R.Moore

29 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Apr 2010

UK Home Office slurps 1,500 schoolkids' records per month

R.Moore

How long before the fingerprints get handed over?

My kids attend a school where lunches are paid for by a fingerprint scanner. My kids have the public shame of using the alternative swipe card instead as I wouldn't let the school take their fingerprints.

How long will it be before this data is handed over as well? (if it's not already gone)

What a bee-lief! UK's asian hornet outbreak is over ... for now

R.Moore

Re: So?

The Asian hornet (vespa velutina) targets honey bees as a favoured prey.

Our honey bee (apis mellifera) hasn't evolved any defensive strategies against it, and unlike wasps and other hornets, the asian hornet won't try and enter the hive. If it did, it could be attacked and 'balled', i..e cooked to death by a multitude of bees. Instead it 'hawks' outside the entrance to the hive, facing the incoming foragers, which it captures on the wing, removing the unnecessary parts and returns to the nest where it will tell others about the location of the bee colony. As a consequence, the colony can lose all its foragers in a day or two.

Asian hornets are HERE... those honey bee murdering BASTARDS

R.Moore

Monitor for vespa velutina

The NBU has a 'how-to' on making a simple trap for asian hornets.

The aim here is to help you monitor if they're in your area.

http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadNews.cfm?id=136

R.Moore

Re: Vespa Velutina

Yes, they also found a dead one, hence the positive ID.

R.Moore

Vespa Velutina

Its vespa velutina that's been spotted in Gloucestershire.

See the National Bee Unit's post here

http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/News/news.cfm#175

and info in the species here

http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=208

They aren't particularly large and I think the clearest identifier are the 'yellow socks' it sports (that and the yellow band on the 4th segment of the abdomen, but it's size varies and sometimes is more difficult to make out).

This is a particularly bad time for it to have been spotted because about now, any nest will be incubating hundreds of queens which will mate with drones and seek out locations for new nests. If they aren't found and destroyed very soon, the species will only be controlled by the cold winters, which are getting warmer..

Bee queens are Notch-blocking their minions, say boffins

R.Moore

Re: Pretty sure ...

They forage for nectar (carbs), pollen (protein and trace elements), water and tree sap (aka propolis).

The pollen is there as a protein source to feed the larvae with and is essential for colony growth.

The propolis is used to plug any gaps ready for the colder months and to entomb any foreign object too large to kick out the front door (it has some antiseptic qualities as well).

I've found the occasional propolised mouse mummy in the spring if I haven't put mouse guards on the hives early enough.

R.Moore

Drones mate on the wing...

..not in colony nests/hives. They congregate in what are known as drone congregation areas, waiting for a queen to enter and will follow her (drones have large eyes to help with this) and die after mating.

The queen will mate with dozens of males during a single flight and the genetically diverse material she returns with contributes to the strength of the colony.

Prospect of fertilisation really blows bees' hair back

R.Moore

Re: hmmm

I'm a beekeeper and I remember reading somesuch on this topic before.

The conjecture was that the charge was an indicator to be bee that nectar was available. This was because after the bee had left the flower the charge was reduced and increased again in line with the re-supply of nectar at that flower.

Google de-listing of BBC article 'broke UK and Euro public interest laws' - So WHY do it?

R.Moore

Radio 4 this morning.

This morning Peter Barron (Google's head of communications) was on Radio 4, along with Robert Peston and Barron went on the record to say that it was a commentor who had made the request, not O'Neil.

I don't question the premise that Google is playing games here, but much of this article seems to have ignored this event.

'Best known female architect' angrily defends gigantic vagina

R.Moore

all it needs....

..is an airship to crash into the middle of it and the the photo op' would be complete.

India's 2020 vision: a $10 BEELION software industry

R.Moore

Bee Lion?

That's got to be tricky.

Meet the stealthiest UK startup's app Swiftkey - and its psychic* keyboard

R.Moore

Nexus 4

The Nexus 4 has a stock keyboard that operates in the same way (i.e. like swype, swiftkey, flextT9)

Anyone know if it's swype or something different?

Ice Cream Sandwich still a no-show for most Android users

R.Moore

Jelly Bean arrived on my Nexus S

It was pushed out to me last weekend.

The UI is apparently quicker though I've never had a problem with the UI speed in the past anyway. Some apps definitely appear more sluggish than on ICS though which is a shame.

I'll stick with it for the time being though as it's still nice to use.

Dragon starts final approach to International Space Station

R.Moore

Grabbing seems pretty rubbish though.

When I used to play Elite I just used to line myself up along the rotational axis of the space station, start to turn at the same rate and fire my thrusters. Being picked up by the scruff of the neck doesn't seem to have the same sense of flair.

Mobile whizzes tout gadgets that touch you, save your life

R.Moore

Feedback at the fingertips

I wonder if the technology could be used to provide Braille to the blind.

Asus outs 1920 x 1280 Android ICS tablet

R.Moore

Sharing the kernel with ubuntu would be nice

I like the idea of running this on a device like this.

Could be the ideal combo for a functional laptop/leisure tab all-in-one device.

http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

Avast! Mobile Security

R.Moore

What accounts for the missing 10%?

I didn't read any caveats in the article so where did the missing 10% go?

Man recreates ZX81... in Lego

R.Moore

How is this news?

If it had a pcb in it and the ports/keys all worked then you (might) have had a story worth reading.

Nuke support in UK hits record high

R.Moore

not wind, methane.

You could store methane in them if this process is economically viable.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100505113227.htm

BUSTED! Secret app on millions of phones logs key taps

R.Moore

Look for...

libiq_client.so and libiq_service.so in /system/lib

Not on my UK purchased Nexus S

Google grabs facial-recognition 'ware firm

R.Moore

They already use this tech

..in Picassa 3. It reliably found hundreds of pics of me and mine at various ages from my photo collection.

I haven't played around with the online albums with Picassa at all so far but when I uploaded these albums to Google+ it didn't seem to upload the tagging data along with the album.

When someone else manually tagged a face in one of my photos though, that tag was posted around the circles the album was shared with.

This doesn't sound too bad but the owner of the face wasn't asked permission.

Got a website? Pay attention, Cookie Law will come

R.Moore

Businesses only?

Does anyone know if this also affects non-profits?

Mind mapping for IT pros

R.Moore
Stop

where are the free links?

You mentioned free.....none of the links are related to free software!

Ubuntu v iTunes: the music playoff for Applephobes

R.Moore
Thumb Up

@ debaser & geronimo hashbucket

Thanks for the advise - I'll try them both.

Cheers

R.Moore

Banshee, Rhythmbox, Amarok all too slow

I've got just under 500Gb of mp3 encoded audio and Banshee, Rhythmbox, Amarok all lock up from time to time when navigatnig around the library, managing playlists and/or playing music.

I need something that can handle a reasonably sized collection more on a lowish spec machine efficiently (atom processor with 3Gb ram).

Any suggestions?

Google brings @gmail.com back to Blighty

R.Moore
Stop

Did I fall asleep?

I'm in the UK and I get emails that are sent to xxx@googlemail.com and xxx@gmail.com and as far as I can tell I always have.

Did I miss something?

New drug spray 'makes men as soppy as girls'

R.Moore

As I expected.

This has only been seen to work on Germans. There's no evidence it would actually work on us.